Hundreds of Millions Saved with Minimal Spending... The Dormant Gwangju Buk-gu 'Gender Equality Fund'

Restriction on Using Only Interest from Fund Deposits Lifted, Yet Another Deposit Renewal

Ministry of the Interior Recommends 10% for Project Expenses... Buk-gu Falls Short at 4.2%

District Official: "Budget Approved Before Recommendation...

This year, the allocation ratio of the Gender Equality Fund project budget in Buk-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City, was found to be only 4.2%. This is less than half of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's recommended standard, indicating a need for active project development.

According to the district on the 23rd, the current Gender Equality Fund in Buk-gu has been raised to 238 million KRW, but only 10 million KRW, or 4.2%, was allocated for this year's project budget. This includes 4.5 million KRW for the operation of Gender Equality Commemoration Week and 5.5 million KRW for the newly launched Visiting Gender Equality Education program.

The Gender Equality Fund was first established in 2011 with a scale of 200 million KRW, aiming to resolve gender inequality issues. It can be used as a resource for policies such as improving gender equality awareness, expanding women's social participation, and creating women-friendly cities.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety has also issued recommendations to actively promote the expansion of such projects (allocating 10% of the project budget). Similar opinions were raised during the 2022 settlement inspection by the ministry.

However, the allocation rate of the Gender Equality Fund project budget in Buk-gu falls far short of the ministry's recommendation. The reason the district has not been able to make effective use of the fund is analyzed to be because it maintains a policy of depositing the fund amount in bank fixed deposits and relying solely on interest income to carry out projects.

Until last year, the Gender Equality Fund projects were managed by depositing the fund amount in the district treasury according to related ordinances, and only interest income could be used. As a result, the project expenditure amounts over the past five years were ▲ 3.5 million KRW in 2019 ▲ 4 million KRW in 2020 ▲ 3.5 million KRW in 2021 ▲ 1.95 million KRW in 2022 ▲ 3.5 million KRW in 2023.

This restriction was lifted starting this year. However, Buk-gu renewed the fixed deposit that matured on the 18th of last month once more. This means that the fund amount, which could serve as a driving force for gender equality policies such as improving gender equality awareness and preventing domestic violence, will be tied up for another year.

Shin Jeong-hoon, a member of the Buk-gu Council, stated, "Even among public officials, awareness of the importance of the Gender Equality Fund seems low, and there is also a lack of clarity on how to establish the concept and nature of the fund projects. As a result, it seems that the district has not met the government's expectations to expand the projects."

In response, a district official explained, "The 2024 budget was prepared before the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's improvement recommendation, and even if the project budget is expanded through the supplementary budget in May, we had to consider various situations, including giving up interest income during that period."

He added, "From next year, we plan to discover new projects and utilize the fund efficiently. Since Buk-gu was the first city nationwide to be designated as a Stage 3 Women-Friendly City in December 2021, we will strive to take the lead in promoting a culture of gender equality even more."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.